CALENDAR

Riga

The second round of the UIM Formula 2 World Cup Series will be hosted by the beautiful capital of Latvia – Riga. Just like the year before, the race will be one of the headline events of the annual Riga City festival which will draw to its events hundreds of thousand of locals and foreign guests. Without a doubt, venue in Riga is one of the better F2 World Cup events of the year as the location of the race is nearly perfect – the race course is set on the river Daugava in the very heart of the city. Spectators can comfortably watch the race from two bridges and the bank of the river just a few steps away from the Old Town of Riga. If you are planning to visit Riga, this is the time to do it – spectacular powerboat racing and many more events as part of the Riga City festival!

2007 race recap

Event in 2007 was attended by 17 pilots from 11 countries. The young Italian Alex Carella earned the pole position at the Grand Prix race and dominated the whole race. Alex did not give any chances to his followers to prevent him from standing on the top spot of the UIM Formula 2 World Cup race podium for the first time in his career. Spectators saw incredible fierce fighting for the remaining podium spots between four drivers – local favorites Ugis Gross and Uvis Slakteris, Rick Haakonsen of Norway, and reigning World Cup title holder Colin Jelf of Great Britain. At the end, Rick defended all the attacks from the Latvians and the Briton and took the second place. A tremendous pass of his fellow country man Uvis Slakteris ensured Ugis Gross the remaining place on the podium before the local crowd.

Match race in Riga turned somewhat paradoxical. Semi-final run between Rick Haakonsen and the Flying Frenchman Jean Baptist Thomas was done twice and both times mistakenly slowed down too soon – Rick thought that he had already reached the finish buoy. No mistakes were in the final where Uvis Slakteris beat the Frenchman to send the local crowed into standing ovation. Rick also made no mistakes at the run for third place and beat Yousef Al Rabayan of Kuwait.

Despite missing podium spots in the Match Race, Yousef came through strong in the Speed Record competition and reached the highest speed in Riga – 178 km/h. With only 4 km/h less than Yousef’s speed Owen Jelf of Great Britain posted the second fastest speed of 174 km/h. Italian veteran Gianni Manici with 169 km/h was third.